Food Tip: Freezing chopped fruit like mangos and pineapples without pureeing them first is a problem because the pieces stick together. Freezing blackberries and raspberries whole is ok but, if you love them in your smoothies but don’t like the seeds, pureeing them first is the answer. To use as baby food: Defrost only what you need and introduce new fruits to your baby’s diet to watch for allergies.

Money Tip: Buy fruit in large quantities when they are in season and freeze them. Mangos that are not in season can cost $1 each. Buying mangos from your local Mexican or farmer’s market when they are in season (especially here in California) can cost you as little as 25 cents each! Homemade fruit puree is not only better for your baby but very inexpensive.

Time Tip: Pureed fruit cubes are perfect at smoothie making time. Open up a bag and grab as many of these perfectly portioned cubes as you need. They are all about 1 ounce so you’ll never spend time guessing how much you have. The individual cubes don’t stick together so you’ll never have to go in search of a hammer to break up your mango iceberg again!